Pasolini traveled to Africa, India, and the Middle East to realize this ambitious cinematic treatment of a handful of the stories from the legendary The Thousand and One Nights. This is not the fairy-tale world of Scheherazade or Aladdin or Ali Baba-instead, the director focuses on the more erotic tales, ones of desire, betrayal, and atonement, framed by the story of a young man's quest to reconnect with his beloved slave girl. Full of lustrous sets and costumes and stunning location photography, Arabian Nights is a fierce and joyous exploration of human sensuality.

Supplements

Introduction by director Pier Paolo Pasolini

On "Arabian Nights," a new visual essay by film scholar Tony Rayns

Deleted scenes

Pasolini and the Form of the City (1974), a documentary by Pasolini and Paolo Brunatto about the Italian cities Orte and Sabaudia